Cowboys OTAs: There's already a clear winner and loser after first week of practice

Week 1 of Dallas Cowboys OTAs is in the books and although it's way too early to draw any big conclusions, there's already a winner and loser we could point to for the way-too-early portion of the offseason.

With pads yet to come on, the most we can draw from when it comes to OTAs is injury news, insights from rotations in practice, and interviews from coaches and players. That's been enough for two names to jump from the page and they're both offensive players. 

Let's dive in.

Biggest winner: WR Jalen Brooks

Jalen Brooks had impressive moments as a seventh-round rookie last year as he consistently turned heads in training camp and in the preseason. However, he didn't get to play much in the regular season. That could change soon.

With CeeDee Lamb absent from OTAs this week, Mike McCarthy pointed out Jalen Tolbert and Brooks were the two most benefitted playmakers.

"I think anytime you have an opportunity as a young receiver to get reps, it's a huge opportunity, especially if it's with the first group," McCarthy told reporters. "You can see both (Tolbert) and (Jalen Brooks) had really, really nice practices yesterday. So I think anytime you get those extra reps, it's great for our young guys."

Brooks officially seems to be separated from the rest of the pack in the backend of the wide receiver depth chart and is in the process of solidifying his WR4 status. And who knows? A strong training camp could earn him some WR3 playing time alongside Tolbert once the season comes around. He's a name to keep a close eye on, for sure. 

Biggest loser: TE Luke Schoonmaker

Schoonmaker is listed as a loser for me because of his injury. A hamstring issue is keeping him off the field for OTAs and this is now his second missed start of the offseason in two years in the NFL. 

That's a bad recipe for somebody that needs to develop. Coaches consistently tell us that there's little time to work on fundamentals once the season kicks off and not being able to translate the classroom work onto the playing field during OTAs could prove an issue.

Schoonmaker is not the only hurt player on the team but his context is what could hurt him the most: The Cowboys TE room is loaded with players that could legitimately make a push for the tight end #2 role behind Jake Ferguson.  He'll need a strong training camp to fend off his in-house competition.